[App_rpt-users] app_gps aprs server settings

[Heikki Hannikainen]

Hi everyone,

I'm Hessu, OH7LZB. I run the aprs.fi web service.

If you're currently using app_gps and reporting to APRS with it, please read 
this:

app_gps default server configuration in app_gps.c, and on the 
documentation web page at http://ohnosec.org/drupal/node/179, points only 
to a single APRS-IS server (second.aprs.net). That server is currently 
full most of the day (300 users) and does not accept new clients. Due to 
outages on other servers it has been full for several weeks, leaving some 
users out, probably including some app_gps users who are only trying to 
connect second.aprs.net.

Please update your gps.conf to say either:

server = rotate.aprs2.net
port = 14580

or

server = rotate.aprs.net
port = 14580

rotate.aprs.net points to all 9 APRS-IS core servers (2 of those down 
currently), and using that will get you automatically connected to one of 
those (not just the second in row which is currently full).

If you choose to use rotate.aprs2.net, you will end up on one of over 80 
Tier2 servers which have a Dynamic DNS setup (rotate.aprs2.net always 
points to a smaller subset of servers which have been tested and verified 
to be available and not full right now).

This way you'll get connected even if second.aprs.net would happen to be 
full or down (and it wouldn't be full if everyone used the rotate 
addresses, anyway).

I've submitted a little bug ticket with a little patch in mantis to change 
the defaults and examples: http://ohnosec.org/mantis/view.php?id=80

Thank you!

   - Hessu